Publications
Publications
ECCE-CANN builds on a long-term programme of research on cannabis cultivation, drug markets, patterns of use, social perceptions and regulation in Spain and other contexts.
The publications below highlight some of the empirical and conceptual work that provides the foundations for the project.
Historical foundations: policy, culture and markets
A Brief History of Cannabis Policies in Spain (1968–2003)
Gamella, J. F., & Jiménez Rodrigo, M. L. (2004).
Journal of Drug Issues, 34(3), 623–659.
This article provides a historical account of cannabis policies in Spain from the late 1960s to 2003. It examines changes in drug laws and public policies in their demographic, political and economic contexts, following a chronological approach to the transformation of cannabis control.
The analysis draws attention to the relationship between legal change, policy implementation, consumption and broader social and political transformations.
La “cultura cannábica” en España: La construcción de una tradición ultramoderna
Gamella, J. F., & Jiménez Rodrigo, M. L. (2004).
Monografías Humanitas, 5, 23–54.
This article examines the emergence of a contemporary cannabis culture in Spain and the transformation of cannabis from an imported and historically situated practice into a normalized form of consumption embedded in contemporary social life.
Drawing on historical analysis and ethnographic research with cannabis users, it explores the cultural meanings, normalization and social contradictions surrounding cannabis in Spain.
Comercialización sin legalización: Políticas públicas y consumo/comercio de cannabis en España (1968–2003)
Gamella, J. F., & Jiménez Rodrigo, M. L. (2005).
Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 30(1–2), 17–49.
This article examines the relationship between cannabis policies, consumption and commercialization in Spain from 1968 to 2003. It focuses on the coexistence of relatively favourable legal conditions for cannabis consumption with the expansion of cannabis markets and the contradictions between penal and administrative control, commercialization and patterns of consumption.
The analysis provides an early account of how regulation and commercialization can develop simultaneously rather than as mutually exclusive processes.
Cannabis, cultivation and markets
Multinational export-import ventures: Moroccan hashish into Europe through Spain
Gamella, J. F., & Jiménez Rodrigo, M. L. (2008).
In A Cannabis Reader: Global Issues and Local Experiences, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, pp. 263–289.
This chapter examines the transnational circulation of Moroccan hashish through Spain into European markets. It connects cannabis cultivation and production in the Rif with trafficking networks, distribution systems and European markets.
Based on ethnographic research, international reports and an analysis of more than 2,000 press reports, the study reconstructs the organisation of cannabis distribution networks and the connections between producers, traffickers, dealers and consumers.
Cannabis cultivation in Spain: A profile of plantations, growers and production systems
Alvarez, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2016).
International Journal of Drug Policy, 37, 70–81.
This study examines cannabis cultivation in Spain through the analysis of plantations, growers and production systems. Based on data from 748 plantations seized by Spanish police in 2013, it documents the emergence of Spain as an important site of cannabis production and examines the organisation and diversity of cultivation systems.
The legalization of cannabis derivatives in Spain: Hypothesis on a potential emerging market
Alvarez, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2017).
Adicciones, 29(3), 195–206.
This article examines the dimensions of the cannabis market in Spain and considers how different legal conditions could affect production, distribution, prices and patterns of consumption.
Regulation and contested legality
The legalization of cannabis: An American experiment with global consequences
Alvarez-Roldan, A., Gamella, J. F., & Parra, I. (2018).
Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 43(4), 22–38.
The article examines the development of cannabis legalization in the United States and considers its implications for international drug policy and the future of cannabis regulation.
From previous research to ECCE-CANN
Taken together, this body of research traces a long-term trajectory of research on cannabis in Spain: from the historical transformation of drug policies and the emergence of cannabis culture, through markets, transnational circulation and cultivation systems, to contemporary questions of regulation and contested legality.
ECCE-CANN builds on this research while shifting the analytical focus towards the relations connecting cultivation practices, people, materials, knowledge, labour, technologies, markets, infrastructures and institutions.